Saturday August 27th, sees a brand new festival hit Bequia’s shores, and it’s already the go-to event of the season.

Bringing together the best of the island’s musicians, artists, filmmakers and creatives, The Hub Collective is putting on the very first POSITIVE VIBES festival. With Plantation Hotel as the buzzing host, the festival’s aim is to unite and inspire islanders with an infectious display of the arts in all its forms.

Celebrating much that is good on the island, POSITIVE VIBES is an all day, all night event appealing to everyone. Not only promoting the very best musicians and artists on Bequia, but also honoring traditional activities with hands-on workshops for people to try things out for themselves.

This is a festival you need to be INVOLVED in, it’s about participating, doing something new, feeling good, having a go. 

Kicking off at 10 am, the day time sees how-to workshops, exciting demonstrations and unique art exhibitions from across Bequia and St. Vincent and Grenadines.

Have a go at recording your own music, find your inner Picasso, see a fashion show or watch what Karate is all about. Learn about film production, watch a fishing competition and be mesmerized by a snake charmer.

There’s also the swim team, face painting and coconut tree climbing too – and for a bit of fun, a selfie station! Pose yourself, or hang with friends – you decide.

At POSITIVE VIBES there is something for everyone, young and old.

Alongside this all is a very special art exhibition. Curated by long time Bequia artist-in-residence Julie Lea, “Artist Views of Bequia” gives you a perspective on the island by fine artists including Pinky Vaughan, Peter Carr and Colin Peters. Be sure to pick Julie’s brain as she teaches you to draw YOUR VIEWS of Bequia. Oragami butterfly workshops will keep the kids busy too.

As the sun goes down, it time to kick back and be entertained.

First up is a viewing of the highly acclaimed Reclaiming Paget Farm short documentaries fresh from their film festival premiere in St. Lucia: https://vimeo.com/164765448

Made by 15 local people who were all new to filmmaking, the films tell the story of the past, present and future of the fishing village of Paget Farm and addresses the struggles and opportunities for the community.

But the film is so much more. It also takes us on the journey of these young people who made the film, the new skills they learnt, the life changing opportunity the project has given them, the hope, the potential, the connection with the environment and the opportune time for positive change. The exact vibe which is the inspiration behind POSITIVE VIBES.

An exhilarating showcase of the very best musicians, dancers and performers follows the film.

Soca, reggae, calypso, acoustic, rap are all represented, from world renown soulstress Judy Boucher to local calypso star J. Gool. A rare chance to see Bequia’s very own Colin Minkah Peters live and Mr. B performing fresh from the release of his latest video. Many more Bequia stars are lined up, Elvis Roots Gordon, Cloud Gooding, Sadé Daniel and Garth Gurley to name a few. That’s around 3 hours of non stop live music, music to dance to, music you can relate to, music to uplift.

Yummy, affordable, authentic food will be available throughout the event, not to mention great promotions on the bar.

The festival came about after an eclectic group of people came together wanting to inspire positive change on the island, and realizing that the best way they could do that was through creativity. The Hub Collective was born with a mission to empower people of all ages through rich island culture and fresh opportunity in the arts. They want to facilitate youth getting into their creative groove and for islanders and visitors to learn from one another, share skills and gain confidence through collaborative initiatives. This festival, however, is just the start…

One of The Hub Collective’s founders, musician Colin Peters said

‘Many events on Bequia no longer cater for the island’s musicians and they are not really accessible to us. We needed an alternative, something run by the people, for the people. We want to be able to mentor those that need it, pass on some of our experiences… Positive Vibes is just that – sending THE RIGHT vibes to our youth and giving them a voice…’

Jessica Jaja, a Film Producer and the Festival’s Coordinator went on to say…

‘The Hub Collective got together to address the need for positive change on the island. We started

something with Reclaiming Paget Farm and realised we needed to do more, people needed to do more. Positive Vibes keeps the momentum going by creating a collaboration between the young and old, bringing arts to forefront of a cohesive society, keeping the cultural heritage of the island alive.

It has been amazing how people have come together to work on this. It feels like a real renaissance on the island. So many people have helped out and volunteered their time to make this happen. We’ve had a great response from our local sponsors too – So many businesses liked the idea of an uplifting event, bringing in traditional cultural activities alongside arts and creativity.

And this is just the start. You will hear a lot more from The Hub Collective, and Positive Vibes will be a regular event here. Our long term aim is big and bold. We are looking forward to everyone coming along for the ride.’

So where are you going to be on the 27th August? There is only one place, and that’s POSITIVE VIBES.